Industrial deafness
Industrial deafness isn’t the same as losing your hearing suddenly because of a loud noise or other physical injury.
Workers who have worked in a noisy environment for a long time may experience hearing loss and may be able to claim compensation.
A claim for industrial deafness is worked out differently to some other claims.
Making a claim
To make a claim you need to be considered a worker under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003.
Someone who doesn’t have a job at the moment but usually would, or who retired from work less than a year ago, is still able to claim.
As well as the above, the person making the claim must also:
- be diagnosed with industrial deafness and have a work capacity certificate from their doctor confirming this and
- have worked in a job for five years or more, where the noise was a factor in their hearing loss.
What happens if a claim is accepted?
Compensation for industrial deafness is in the form of a lump sum payment.
If a claim is accepted, a worker’s insurer will send them to an audiologist (hearing specialist) to have their hearing assessed. This is to work out the extent of work-related long-term hearing loss they’ve experienced. The level of permanent damage that is applied to their injury is referred to as the degree of permanent impairment (DPI).
How much a worker is compensated is based on the level of work-related hearing loss they’ve experienced.
The worker’s insurer will make an offer of compensation based on the result of the worker’s assessment, taking into account exclusions like:
- any hearing loss that happened outside Queensland or while the worker was self-employed (if that applies)
- 5% of hearing loss that occurs naturally in a person’s life
- any hearing loss from previous assessments.
There’s more information on how this is calculated in Section 9 (Hearing) of Queensland’s Guidelines for evaluation of permanent impairment, Second edition (PDF, 2.05 MB).
If a worker agrees with the assessment and offer, they can accept it and then claim again every three years if their hearing gets worse (with the same exclusions applied).
Accepting or rejecting the offer
A worker may accept or reject the assessment and offer of compensation. There are things they need to think about when deciding, like whether or not they also want to claim damages (a common law claim). They may want to do this if they believe their hearing loss is the result of their employer being ‘at fault’.
A worker can only claim damages as well as accepting a lump sum if their DPI is 20% or more.
If a worker’s DPI is between 5% and 19%, they must choose either to accept the assessment and lump sum offer or claim damages.
If they don’t agree with the assessment they can:
- ask their insurer for an independent assessment. Their insurer can arrange this if they agree. If the insurer doesn’t agree, a worker will be referred to the Medical Assessment Tribunal (MAT).
- ask to be assessed by the MAT.
The MAT is administered by Workers’ Compensation Regulatory Services on behalf of the Workers' Compensation Regulator and is made up of independent specialists who assess the DPI. Their decision is final and can't be appealed.
Insurers can provide more information.